A Day on the Rails

When my mom came to visit us when Jonah was an infant we went to a toy store to buy him something. My mom asked Jim what he remembered playing with as a child and Jim said he loved his brio train. So Grandma bought Jonah his first bit of wooden track and three little brio cars. He was to young technically, but loved watching Mum and Dad push the train around the track. We soon had a whole collection of books about trains, most of which I now have memorized (Train Song by Diane Seibert, Chugga Chugga Choo Choo by Kevin Lewis, The Little Red Train Series by Benedict Blathwayt, The Little Red Caboose by Marian Potter, Freight Train by Donald Crews and And the Train Goes by William Bee are some of our favorites).

So, I found it very fitting that my parents, who are partially responsible for Jonah's love of trains, were able to take Jonah on the narrow-gauge steam railway in Wales. Jonah has ridden a lot of trains, but only once before (photos here and here) did he ride a steam train; which is a very important distinction for Jonah (and he was only 15 months old the first time). The scenery was beautiful; it was a lovely way to see the welsh country side. I even enjoyed the train in a way I never would have before reading books about the history of trains with Jonah (the Usborne Young Reader The Story of Trains is quite good). I am amazed at how many new things I am learning about and even beginning to enjoy because of my little man's interests. This is definitely one of the perks of parenting I didn't foresee.